The Apollo Theatre, Manchester

The Apollo Manchester was originally built as an up-market cinema in 1938 on Ardwick Green - once a prosperous area of Manchester before slum clearance after the war.
It was designed by architects Peter Cummings, Alex Irvine and R. Gillespie Williams in a modernist art deco style. The buildings frontage consists of a glazed white terracotta façade. Its original purpose was as a multi-purpose cinema and variety hall and was opened by 1930's actress Margaret Lockwood.
Right up until the 1970s, the venue continued to provide the same service to the public, until the cinema industry declined and the variety side of the venue took over. It focused its resources on becoming a leading concert venue competing at that time with the likes of Maine Road.
I have seen quite a few concerts here, my first being Iron Maiden in 1984 (ticket price £4.50) the last was Bullet for my Vallentine just a few weeks ago. My most memorable concert here has to be when I went to see Gary Moore. It was memorable because halfway through the set he introduced a dear friend of his on stage, this dear friend was Phil Lynott. Gary Moore was once a guitarist in Thin Lizzy which Phil Lynott was the Vocalist/Bassist. They perfomed two songs "Out in the Fields" and the classic "Parisiene Walkways" which was a real treat. This concert was in 1985 and sadly Phil Lynott passed away 4th January 1986.